Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 February 2026
975. Deputy Marie Sherlock asked the Minister for Health the State agencies within her Department that have made provision for the pension auto enrolment payment as part of their allocation to funded organisations; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14411/26]
View answerThe HSE is the only State agency within the Department of Health that funds Section 39 organisations. They have advised the following:
Staff of voluntary bodies funded by the HSE under Section 38 are considered public servants and typically already members of an occupational pension scheme. Therefore, auto-enrolment will typically not apply. Many staff of voluntary bodies funded by the HSE under Section 39 are already part of occupational pension schemes or have a pension via payroll deductions. Therefore, auto-enrolment will not apply to those staff. The HSE will be gathering data from the Section 39 sector it funds over the coming months to establish what level of staff the auto-enrolment will apply to. This will enable an assessment of the likely scale of any cost of the auto-enrolment scheme for HSE funded Section 39 employees. That assessment will inform consideration of any funding issues and how best to address the same.
